Lora Berg

Lora joined the National Hog Farmer editorial team in 1993, served as associate editor, then as managing editor until 1999. She has also worked as a contributing editor to the publication, and the National Hog Farmer digital editor responsible for content on the nationalhogfarmer.com Web site. Lora serves as the editor of the Nutrient Management, Weekly Preview and Weekly Wrap Up e-newsletters. She has also written and produced electronic newsletters for Farm Industry News, Hay & Forage Grower and BEEF magazines. Lora grew up on a purebred Berkshire operation in southeastern South Dakota and promoted pork as the state’s Pork Industry Queen and as an intern with the South Dakota Pork Producers Council. Lora earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from South Dakota State University in agricultural journalism and mass communications. She has served as communications specialist for the National Live Stock and Meat Board and as director of communications for the University of Minnesota College of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences. Lora earned the Story of the Year award from the American Agricultural Editors’ Association and bronze award in the National American Society of Business Publication Editors’ competition.

When pork producers experience an outbreak of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) in a herd, a common strategy used to stop the disease from spreading is to quickly wean all piglets who have not yet contracted the disease and move them out of the facility. Consequently, some piglets are moving to the nursery as young as 7 days of age. Weaning younger, more vulnerable piglets means extra attention to detail and some tender loving care (TLC) is needed to get pigs off to a good start.

The National Pork Board is considering a proposal to create a National Swine Health Information Center, initially funded by the Pork Checkoff, as a tool to implement industry preparedness for disease challenges impacting swine.

Producers must determine their level of PEDV risk aversion to determine the best feeding strategy for their production system. Knowledge has increased greatly in the last nine months since feed was first viewed as a possible vector for this disease, but at the end of the day, we still need to feed the pigs.

Animal protein is used in nursery swine diets as a source of digestible protein. In addition, animal proteins have been shown to help pigs combat health challenges and provide benefits such as increased feed intake, which in turn can help boost gain.

The inventory of all hogs and pigs in the United States on Sept. 1, 2014 was 65.361 million head. This was down 2.3% from Sept. 1, 2013, but up 6% from June 1, 2014. Summarizing his thoughts upon the release of the report, Ron Plain, professor of agricultural economics, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, says, “Across the board, every one of these numbers came in higher than trade expectations, so in my mind, this is a bearish Hogs and Pigs Report.”

Heat stress costs the U.S. swine industry more than $300 million annually in reduced growth and efficiency, decreased reproductive performance, altered carcass composition and slowed swine metabolism, according to Jason Ross, Iowa State University (ISU) reproductive physiologist. Ross and his ISU colleagues recently joined a multi-state National Institute of Food and Agriculture-funded research project, led by Lance Baumgard, ISU nutritionist, to investigate the long-term impacts that in utero heat stress can have on the body composition of pigs all the way through the finishing phase.

Lee Johnston, Professor of Swine Nutrition and Management and Director of Operations for the University of Minnesota's West Central Research and Outreach Center, was named one of the 2014 Masters of the Pork Industry.

Sow unit manager Harold Lee shares his diary documenting the fierce battle he, his veterinarians and the Meadow Hill Farm staff waged against porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV). Lee believes sharing his experiences may help lessen the disease's impact on other producers who may be able to learn from the Meadow Hill story.

It doesn’t take long for the topic of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) to come up in the conversation at any pork producer gathering these days. Those who have experienced the disease firsthand have a shell-shocked look about them. Those who haven’t had an outbreak are ready to do whatever it takes to prevent — or prepare for — this horrible disease. Some producers skipped state pork producer meetings this winter to avoid having the disease hitch a ride home, unseen, on shoes or clothing.

There’s been a lot of talk about shoes lately. Curiously, it seems job transitions inevitably bring about references to footwear. As of July 15, my friend and mentor Dale Miller officially retired as the editor of National Hog Farmer fol-lowing a 40-year career with the magazine.